The Shadow Knight, The Wind Casanova, and The Prince of Seas
by River.W
Summary: When Luke Castellan killed himself to save Olympus, Kronos wasn't in that body. In order to save himself, Kronos jumped to another body. Three years have passed since then. The world has ended, the mist is down, and cities become battlegrounds. Yet the war between the immortals continue on. Now two demigods are to find the one that can save Olympus, the one who has saved it once.
1. Shadow, Wind, and Seas

_The demigods in camp half-blood and the Olympians thought that they have won after beating Kronos in the last titanomachy. Never did they think that the Titans had a backup plan. Luke Castellan was merely bait, nothing else but a scapegoat. When Luke Castellan killed himself, the titan Kronos moved to another person, he invaded someone else. The titan lord Kronos has resurrected to his full form, and the everlasting war between the Olympians and the Titans continue._

_The world as we know it has ended. Monsters roam the world, the mist has been brought down, cities are destroyed and turned into battlegrounds, countless mortals and demigods have met their doom. The camp still stands but now we are all at war. The safest place in the world for demigods has been turned into a training camp for soldiers of Olympus. No one is safe now…_

_My name is Claudia Straus, and I'm a sixteen years old daughter of Aphrodite. It has been three years have passed since the false victory that the camp and the Olympians celebrated. I have been tasked for an important mission, one that can decide the fate of Olympus._

Brooklyn… Half of the buildings here have already been burnt down, and the other half is a death trap. The leftover skyscrapers are waiting to just fall down, while the other buildings are ready to crumble down. Hundreds of cars are abandoned in the street, almost all of them are not working anymore, and no one uses the rest since they create too much noises.

The air used to be polluted by the smoke of the industrial wastes and the ashes of the burnt down buildings. If you can actually smell death, that would have been it. Now the air is free of that smell and pollution since all the cars around are totaled and no factory is operational anymore, yet the sense of death still remains in the air.

Two demigods are walking quietly, almost sneaking and creeping through the streets. One of them is Claudia Straus, the other one is James Smoak, a fifteen years old son of Apollo.

Claudia is a 5'5" tall girl with brown-reddish straight hair that goes up to the between of her shoulder blades. She keeps her bang out of the way of her forehead; her hair is brushed down to both sides of her head neatly. She has a pretty face, a trademark of a daughter of Aphrodite, and a pair of bright bronze eyes. Claudia is wearing a bronze light chainmail with red t-shirt underneath, for protection. Claudia never wore a chainmail before in her life; she deemed them to uncomfortable and still does. Despite of being a little different than the other Aphrodite's children, not against the idea of breaking a few sweats, and training, she can't fight the fact that it's out of fashion. She can't deny her gene, deep down she'd rather die while wearing fashionable clothes rather than wear something that can protect her life. Of course, they beat that out of you in camp now, still, she can't help feeling that way and always managed to find a way not to wear a chainmail until now. At least she was allowed to wear her favorite jeans and boots, even though they're her least favorite boots, but it would still be better than sneakers.

James is a 5'7" tall young boy with blonde hair. His hair is trimmed short and neatly, but still fashionable. Claudia was the one who cut them after all. James has an innocent, cute looking face. He's like the poster-face for the idea of the perfect younger brother. He has a pair of light brown eyes that somehow become more enchanting when the sun shines on his face. James is also wearing a bronze chainmail but with the camp t-shirt underneath, unlike Claudia; he isn't against the idea of protecting himself. In fact, he would wear five of them if it's possible. He was planning to wear a bronze Spartan war helmet, but Claudia insisted or actually forced him that if he wears it, she would leave him in the middle of the battlefield alone. Despite this, Claudia actually thought of James' well-being, and not just how it would look horrible on James according to Claudia's fashion sense. James' vision is a bit terrible, and wearing a helmet like that would just limit his vision. Wearing something like that would be even more dangerous than not wearing it.

'C-Claudia… I don't like this at all.' James stutters. You can see how scared he is right now, but for Claudia, that isn't exactly anything new.

'Shut up, James.' Claudia orders.

'I-I mean how do we even know that they're here…'

'Because Chiron said that they're here. Now shut up, you're going to get us killed.' Claudia raises her voice a bit before realizing that she should keep her voice down as well.

Brooklyn is not exactly the best place for a demigod to be. It's the titans' territory, which means there are countless monsters roaming the streets. If Claudia and James are found out by the monsters, they won't live to see the sunset. There's no way to outrun them or to fight them. Claudia and James are deep in enemy's territory and they are clearly outnumbered.

'R-Right…' James whispers. 'D-Do you think that we have enough spray?'

Claudia sighs. 'Yes, we do, now be quiet.'

James was talking about the scent spray, one of the newest inventions of the demigods. It hides your scent from monsters, making it impossible to track down demigods by their smells.

They keep creeping through the streets, looking for their destination. Claudia thinks that they're lucky; no monsters are on sight since the time they've reached Brooklyn. Still, it's not an excuse to lower your guards. Claudia has to stay cautious if she wants to make it through the day.

Claudia thought that Chiron was being unreasonable, sending a child of Aphrodite and Apollo to a stealth mission. He should have sent a child of Hermes to do this kind of things. Not that she hasn't complained already, which of course she already did. But Chiron didn't change his mind. Probably because of the fact that all the children of Hermes are busy travelling and gathering intels. Still, a daughter of Aphrodite and a son of Apollo? Claudia thought that if this is such an important mission, then why Chiron sent people who are perhaps the worst possibly people for missions like this.

They finally reach their destination. A run down supermarket at the side of the street with a white large letter "P" sprayed on the building's wall, a secret code. They rush through the wide open parking lot with lots of abandoned cars in front of the supermarket.

Claudia and James enter the building cautiously and carefully, they don't want to have any surprises. The inside of the store looks better than the exterior. The lights are still on, even though they keep going on and off. Strangely enough, there are still a lot of foods left in the aisles. Normally, supermarkets in the titans' territory are empty, the mortals took everything they can, not caring whether they needed it or not. A lot of the products are on the ground though; some are even opened already but left there alone.

Claudia and James continue their way to the manager's office. In front of them now lies a single white door with the letter "P" painted black on the door.

Claudia slowly swings the door open. The room is pitch black with no lights around. Claudia searches for the light switch, running her hand on the wall.

James keeps following Claudia from behind, his hands and feet are trembling. James is never good with the dark, partly because he's a son of Apollo, the god of the sun; the other part is because he thinks that only bad things can come out of the dark.

Claudia finally finds the light switch, she flips it a couple of times but it's not working. She sighs. Now how is she supposed to find her way forward if she can't even see what's ahead of her?

Just when Claudia is about to find a torch or something that can light up the room, a small glowing green light appears in the midst of the darkness. James squeals softly when he sees the light, he almost jumps in shock. He thought that it was a ghost, then again, it maybe is. The light glows brighter, providing both Claudia and James vision of the entire room and the mysterious hooded figure at the corner of the room holding the lantern with green flames burning brightly in it.

The figure is wearing a dark cloak, covering his entire body. James yelps loudly when he sees the figure while Claudia just watches the figure cautiously.

'We're looking for—' Before Claudia can finishes her sentence, the wall behind the hooded figure shifts open.

The hooded figure slowly turns around and he goes into the secret door.

Claudia is about to follow him, but James blitz to her and grabs her arm. He squeezes her arm tightly, 'C-Claudia… T-This is a terrible idea.'

Claudia rolls her eyes in annoyance, 'James, grow up. We need to do this. Now you can either go with me, or go back the way you came from, which is sneaking back to the camp all alone without me. Take your pick.'

James slowly lets go of Claudia's arm, but he still doesn't look fully convinced of this plan. Claudia follows the hooded figure with James right behind her. The figure leads them down a flight of rocky stairs. The walls are close to each other, Claudia and James can't even walk side by side because the walls are too narrow. The lantern that the hooded figure holds is the only source of light that they have, if he left, then there would be nothing but darkness once more. James thought of this, and it does not comfort him one bit.

When they reach the end of the stairs, the path ahead widens up, but not too much. At least now they all have room for themselves. The ground that we are standing on has changed to neatfully placed stone bricks. The ceiling is full of sharp rock stalactites. James dreads what would happen if the place starts crumbling down. There are torches placed on the wall of each side of the room. They light up magically as the hooded figure walks past them. Claudia's hand is ready at the dagger strapped to her waist; she knows fully well that this might go wrong.

The hooded figure leads them to an old iron door. As the figure opens it, the door squeaks loudly, and the figure enters. Claudia enters the door with James right behind her.

The room they've just entered looks like a kill box. It's a square room, around 4x6 meters, and only has one exit, which happens to be the entrance as well. There in the middle of the room is a throne made out of stone. A man is sitting on the throne, accompanied by another two hooded figures standing right behind him.

The man has grey hair, and a sharp looking face. He looks like he's in the middle of his thirty. He's wearing a white doctor's coat with neat blue shirt and custom made work pants underneath the coat. His eyes are closed, like he's resting. The hooded figure that has been leading Claudia and James joins the other hooded figures; he stands next to them, right behind the man in the doctor's coat.

James doesn't like this already; he has a bad feeling. Something about this is not right. From the kill box room and the people who don't match anything they're looking for. Everything here is screaming 'Get out! Get out now!', but he knows the people he's looking for are not easy to find. This might just be the middle man.

Claudia doesn't like this as well, but unfortunately she doesn't share James' suspicion. Even though she doesn't like the situation one bit, she knows that this is about right considering who they are looking for.

Claudia takes a couple of steps forward while James just freezes on the spot, terrified. Claudia bows slightly to the man; she knows the importance of manner here if she's in the right place.

'Kind sir… Forgive our intrusion…' She speaks respectfully. 'We are demigods from the Halfblood Camp… And we are here in search of—'

'I know who you are looking for, my dear demigod.' The man speaks with his eyes still closed. 'I know full well, after all, I encountered one of them.' He smirks.

The man slowly opens his eyes and reveals different colored eyes. One of them is brown, and the other is blue. If James has a danger sense, it would have been buzzing loudly already, especially after seeing the man's eyes. James scans the room, looking from the ground to high up to the ceiling.

The man stands up. He's really tall and has a straight posture. 'Tell me child, what do you know of the people that you are looking for?' He closes in on Claudia.

Claudia looks up to him. It's not that she doesn't know fear; it's just that Claudia hides it very well. 'I know for a fact that they're extremely powerful, and we have been searching for them for years, yet no one seems to be able to find them.'

James' eyes are locked on the ceiling. 'Uhm… Claudia…' He almost whispers.

The man scratches his chin, 'I see… Well then… I'd like to know if you have any outpost here in Brooklyn. It is important that we share all information that we know of. The people that I speak for would like to know whether you are here alone or have an entire battalion with you.'

'Claudia…' James starts tugging Claudia's arm.

'Not now, James!' Claudia brushes off James' grip. 'First, we'd like to know where they are.'

The man smirks, 'Trusts and manners are hard to come by nowadays, my young demigod. Tell us this and I shall tell you where the people you are looking for.'

Claudia pauses, she thinks about it for a second and exhales. 'We don't have any outpost here in Brooklyn, but we do have a safe—'

'Claudia!' James yells while still staring at the ceiling.

Claudia whirls back to James, 'What!?' She yells in annoyance.

James keeps his eyes up to the ceiling, he points up. Claudia's head slowly turns up. The ceiling is filled with skeletons. Some of them are wearing chainmail, but the alarming part is that some are wearing camp half-blood t-shirt. Claudia looks at them, horrified.

She turns back to the man in the doctor's coat. 'Uhm… Right… So we're going to go now, thank you for all your help, kind sir.' Claudia slowly takes a couple of steps back.

The man takes a couple of steps forward as Claudia steps back. 'Please. Call me Dr. Thorn. And we have a deal, yes? I should tell you where you can find the people you're looking for.' Dr. Thorn grows bigger somehow, his body buffs up, making his shirt really tight. Hair starts growing out of his skin. Claudia and James look mortified by this. 'Yes, you should start looking for them in the morgue, or perhaps in my stomach.' Dr. Thorn growls with a wicked smile.

'Run!' Claudia yells out.

James and Claudia immediately sprint out of that room. They waste no time at all to run. Claudia and James force their way up the stairs and out of the creepy secret dungeon, not caring how many times their skin got scratched by the rough rock wall. They blitz out of the manager's office, across the supermarket, and immediately exit the supermarket.

'I told you this was a bad idea!' James yells out loud while sprinting out of there.

'Less talking, more running!' Claudia bashes the front door and dashes back in the parking lot.

Before that they can get anywhere else, what is left of the glass walls of the supermarket shatter. The three hooded figures burst out of there and leaps to James and Claudia. The cloaks falter and reveal three manticores, blocking James and Clauda's way. The manticores are beasts with a huge furry yellow lion's body, and a dark red scorpion tail. They're approximately twice Claudia's size. Their eyes have a different color than each other. They have the face of wildcat, with whiskers and fangs.

'Oh… By Aphrodite…' Claudia whispers.

She quickly draws her dagger in reaction, ready to defend herself. James draws his sword in a hurry, almost dropping the sword to the ground but catches it and holds it firmly.

Dr. Thorn slowly walks up to them from behind. 'Now now… Why run? You know that you cannot escape.' He smirks. He begins to transform as he walks. His body grows, becoming more and more monster-like. By the time he reaches us, he's already grown into a manticore. Difference is, he's bigger than the other manticores and still retains his human face.

The manticores corner both Claudia and James from four sides. Claudia tries to think of a way out of there, but she couldn't think of anything. There's no way to escape.

This is it; this is how they're going to die. James thought of that. He absolutely has no confidence that they can fight their way out of this. Claudia is a good fighter, but she's not exactly the best. She just happens to know how to fight and James himself is good at running away, not fighting.

'Subdue them please, gentlemen.' Dr. Thorn orders the manticores.

The manticores start to get closer. The wind around them rushes to their faces. No one realizes this, but the wind is going crazy to every direction. One thing that Claudia did notice is a small smudge on the sky, somehow that smudge is attracting her attention. Not only that, the smudge seems to be dropping down from the sky, and it's going to them.

Dr. Thorn watches James, petrified with fear. 'Don't worry, young demigod. We will not hurt you much… We just ne—' Dr. Thorn never got to finish that sentence.

A young boy drops down from the sky onto one of the smaller manticores, and sinks his blade into the back of its neck, straight to the bottom.

The young boy grins excitedly to Dr. Thorn, 'Too bad we can't say the same to you.' He pulls out his blade and somersaults off the manticore and to the ground. The manticore that he struck disintegrates into dusts.

Dr. Thorn's eyes widen. 'Get him!' He orders his manticores loudly.

The two manticores leap to the young boy. The young boy doesn't look afraid, not even the slightest hint of fear. If anything, he looks really happy. He holds out his hands, each hand to each manticore. He uses the wind and blows both of the manticores away.

The young boy smiles enchantingly to Claudia, 'Hey there.'

Dr. Thorn roars and charges to the young boy. The young boy kneels down while still facing Claudia, she thought for a moment that he was going to propose since he kneels so elegantly. Claudia realizes The young boy has his fist from right behind him and aimed at Dr. Thorn. The moment Dr. Thorn reaches the young boy, he shoots up his fist up to the sky. It misses Dr. Thorn by a hair, but the wind shoots up alongside the boy's fist, it shoots Dr. Thorn up into the sky.

The young boy takes Claudia's hand, he kisses it gently. 'How are you doing? My name is—'

'Valerius Knight.' Claudia finishes his sentence.

Valerius smiles, intrigued, 'You know me?' Dr. Thorn drops down, crashing back into the supermarket.

The once silent air is now filled with noises from the manticores and the crumbling down ceiling that Dr. Thorn dropped from. The wind around provides a rushing noise as well.

Claudia smiles back, a bit charmed by Valerius, 'Of course. You're one of the people we've been looking for.'

Claudia feels enchanted by Valerius, but so would most girls in general. He's around 5'11" tall, with a pair of beautiful green eyes, like a pair of emerald jewel decorating the surface of his pupils. His hair is cut short, celebrity style, a bit spiky and twirly on the front, revealing his forehead. His hair color is yellow-ish brown, kinda similar to Liam Hemsworth's hair color. He has a really charming and handsome face, especially with that deadly smile of his that can melt anyone's heart in an instant. It's not surprising that Claudia's heart almost skipped a beat when he arrives, especially with that bad boy looking attitude. Valerius is wearing a bronze chainmail with a symbol of a jar right above the left chest area, white plain t-shirt underneath the chainmail, and expensive denim tight jeans. His weapon is a celestial bronze gladius.

'Wow, a pretty girl looking for me. I feel so happy now. So what can I help you with?' Valerius still has his eyes on Claudia, not taking them off of her. It makes Claudia feels a little bit special, but for Valerius, he knows what he's doing, in both combat and how to please girls.

The two manticores get back on their feet and they run rampart knocking away the cars that are on their way. One of them blitz away, and now the manticores are coming from both the left and right side.

'Would you excuse just for one sec?' Valerius smiles playfully to Claudia.

He dashes to the manticore on his left, using the wind to boost his run. He's practically flying now. Just when they're about to collide, Valerius shifts to the side skillyfully and plunges his sword to the side of the manticore's neck, pulling it out almost as fast as when he plunged it in. The manticore vaporizes to dust.

The other manticore is now right behind Valerius, but Valerius shoots up above. Now he's hovering up in the air. Valerius blasts the manticore using the wind all around them, now the wind is pinning the manticore on the ground. It's looking helpless, lying down with his chest and heart wide open.

Valerius drops down with his blade pointing downward to the manticore. He kills it as soon as the blade sinks deep into the manticore's heart. Valerius smiles proudly, he walks up to Claudia with his charming smile.

Valerius quickly wraps his arm around Claudia's waist, bringing her closer to him. 'Now that's over… How about a kiss as your way of saying thank you?' He leans in closer without waiting for an answer.

Claudia is taken completely by surprise, and Valerius is only two centimeters away from Claudia's lips, but then James yells out, 'Look out!'

Dr. Thorn is still awake and he swipes his paw, hitting Valerius and Claudia, sending them flying. Valerius shields Claudia just in time, but he takes the full damage from that mighty paw. Valerius and Claudia land on the ground roughly, yet after getting hurt by Dr. Thorn's paw, he still acts as a cushion so that Claudia doesn't get hurt.

Valerius is bleeding from his lips. His back is broken, and he lies there helplessly. Ironic how now he's the one who's helpless after disintegrating three manticores. Dr. Thorn charges back to them. Claudia tries to help Valerius by feeding him ambrosia, but she fails miserably since Valerius needs more time to recover. His vision is still blurry and his legs feel numb even after taking the ambrosia.

'Get up!' Claudia pleads, but Valerius keeps shaking his head, trying to get a grip.

James can only watch as Dr. Thorn closes in on Valerius and Claudia. Valerius can't even see clearly what's ahead of him, while Clara freezes with fear as Dr. Thorn gallops toward them, ready to maul and clobber.

Dr. Thorn stops right in front of them; he stands with his two feet and roars mightily. Claudia closes her eyes, fearing of what comes next. Somehow in that darkness, Claudia finds a little bit comfort, at least she can't see her own demise. But it never came. The only thing that comes to Claudia is the sound of something sharp piercing something soft.

Claudia slowly opens her eyes. Dr. Thorn freezes right in front of them with both his paws spread wide. He was ready to swing them both at Valerius and Claudia, but why did he stop? Claudia looks closer and on Dr. Thorn's left chest, something pierced through it from his back. It looks a lot like a hand, but wrapped in darkness, blaring like a black flame. Blood spurs out of Dr. Thorn's chest. The hand that pierced through his chest is being pulled back; Dr. Thorn falls to the ground as soon as the hand wrapped in darkness leaves his chest.

Another young boy is now standing right behind the spot where Dr. Thorn was standing. The young boy has thick black hair, but really smooth and silky fair. His hair is brushed to the left side of his face. He's around 5'10" tall, just a little bit shorter than Valerius. His skin is white, the perfect kind of white for a guy. He has the perfect combination of pretty and handsome as a face. If there's one word to describe him, it would be beautiful. He has a pair of crimson eyes. Claudia looks to his blood red eyes, there's something about them that just frighten her up. His eyes feel as cold as glacier and as merciless, even though they look like warm blood. He's wearing a black leather jacket with black v-neck shirt underneath and fit denim jeans.

Claudia's eyes are locked on the young boy now. His right hand is still hanging in the air, covered in darkness that is blaring like a black flame, and now covered with Dr. Thorn's blood. His fingers are sharp, blade sharp; each of his fingers is pointy, it's like he's wearing a war gauntlet made of shadow and darkness. The darkness slowly fades away from the young boy's hand, revealing his fair white hand washed in blood. His eyes return back to the color black, his eyes original color, yet the cruel feeling that his eyes hold still remain. It doesn't even take fifteen seconds for Claudia to understand that the boy in front of her is dangerous.

'Oswald Hawke…' Claudia mutters the boy's name almost quietly and cautiously.

'I told you to never let your guard down, Valerius.' Oswald says coldly.

Valerius finally manages to shake off his confusion. He now sees things clearly. He smiles gleefully when he sees Oswald standing there. 'Oswallldddd.' He calls out Oswald's name happily. 'Nice save, bro.'

Oswald shook his head slightly in annoyance. He helps Claudia up and leaves Valerius to get back up by himself. Valerius uses his hand to help himself up; he winces as he stands back up wobbly before finally regaining back his balance. James is already up to his feet and dashes to Claudia's side.

'Claudiaaa!' James hugs her; he's scared right out of his mind.

Claudia groans in annoyance, she pushes James back. 'I'm fine, James. There's no need to overreact.'

'B-But…' What Claudia said didn't assure James one bit, and right now, James needs assurance that they're both not going to die.

'You two are..?' Oswald examines Claudia and James from top to bottom, trying to determine how dangerous these two demigods are.

Claudia exhales. 'I'm Claudia Straus, and this is James Smoak. We're from Camp Half-Blood. We've been looking for you too, Oswald.'

Claudia knows exactly who the boy in front of her is. Oswald Hawke, the second person that she's been looking for. Claudia starts to think, if these two are here, then the last person she's looking for must be around here.

Oswald raises his eyebrow, 'What does the camp want from us?' Oswald isn't pleased by what he's just heard.

Claudia thinks that Oswald is trying to decide whether he's going to decapitate both James and Claudia or he would just roast them and feed them to Oswald's dogs whenever Oswald looks at them with those cold merciless eyes.

Claudia is about to answer when she's interrupted by a loud echoing roar, and the loud noise of wings flapping. Whatever it is that's causing that noise must be really huge, possibly really hungry and murderous.

From a distance, the sound of bricks falling down and windows shattering can be heard. It's getting closer and closer, and now there are loud barkings as well.

Way ahead of us, from a turn, a large dragon and three hellhounds make a sharp turn. The dragon flies between buildings, while the three hellhounds take the ground. The dragon breathes fire, swarming everything on the ground with flames while the hellhounds knock over anything that stands in their way. They destroy anything in their path. Abandoned cars on the streets start to explode from the dragon's fire.

James and Claudia keep flinching as every car explodes while Oswald and Valerius are unfazed by it. It's not something new to both Oswald and Valerius since when you live a life that they lead, something like that is barely surprising anymore.

'W-we should really run now.' James suggests, although it's more of a plead rather than a suggestion.

'I don't say this often, but let's go with James' idea.' Claudia agrees.

Valerius laughs, 'Outrun a dragon and three hellhounds? We can do that, but not while carrying you with us.' Valerius looks excitedly at Oswald, 'Do you prefer the dragon, or the hellhounds?'

'Neither. He's already here.' Oswald says, he points up ahead.

There's already someone else, standing in the way of the monsters and us. We can't see what the person looks like since that person is wearing a blue hooded cloak with a golden trident emblem stamped on the back of the cloak and he's facing the monsters. He's around 6'0" tall. In his right hand is a celestial bronze sword.

The hellhounds are the first to arrive. They were planning to charge through the person right in front of them, but when they're right in front of him, the mysterious person jumps and rolls over the hellhounds. He lands perfectly, and two of the hellhounds already have their throat slit. Claudia and James weren't able to see when the mysterious person did it, it happened instantly. The two hellhounds disintegrate into dusts.

The mysterious person dashes to the last hellhound while the hellhound makes a sharp turnover. The hellhound gallops but before he can take another step forward, the mysterious blue hooded figure is already sliding toward the hellhound. He rises up and decapitates the hellhound's head from below, turning the hellhound into dusts.

The dragon is the only thing left now. Claudia and James are shocked by what the mysterious person just did, their jaws drop. The mysterious person now faces the dragon; he walks up slowly to the dragon as it glares down on him.

Valerius wraps his right arm around Claudia's waist, 'I'll take the pretty girl.' Valerius smiles to Claudia.

Oswald puts his hand on James' shoulder. 'Fine. I'll meet you there.' After saying that, Oswald and James disappear from sight, taken away by shadows.

Claudia is shocked by what just happened, she's a bit scared because James just disappeared. 'Where did they go!?' Claudia asks, but she sounds like she's demanding an answer.

Valerius smiles, 'Safe, don't worry. They're in our hideout, which is where I'm taking you to now.'

'What about him!?' Claudia points to the mysterious person, now charging to the dragon all alone.

'He'll be fine. After all, one dragon is not a match for him.' Valerius is confident of what he's saying.

Before Claudia can protest further, Valerius uses the wind and shoots them both to the sky. Claudia screams in fear as it happens so suddenly and without any warning. Without realizing it, Claudia is holding tightly to Valerius to which Valerius responds with a wide smirk on his face.

They land at the edge of the city, in front of an abandoned factory. It's only been three years, and already no one can remember what the people in this factory were producing. The buildings around have been leveled in half. In front of the factory is a humongous civilian airplane. It appears to have crashed landed a long time ago since the plane is not in a good or new condition. One of the wings is gone, and the plane has already been divided in half.

Claudia scans the area around, nervous of what's around here and why Valerius is bringing her here. Despite of his charm, Claudia knows that Valerius is not someone to be trifled with, in fact he might be dangerous. After all, Oswald Hawke is a man that has spread terror to many people. Someone who can acts normally around him, like Valerius, must not be really that ordinary to say the least.

Valerius takes Claudia's hand and leads her to the aircraft. Claudia decides that for the time being, it's best to just follow him willingly. After all, he did just save her life.

'What is that?' Claudia gestures to the plane.

Valerius smiles proudly, 'That is an Antonov An-225 Mriya. Pretty isn't it? It crash landed a couple of years ago, during the invasion of Brooklyn. Now it serves as our hideout.'

Claudia's eyes widen. 'You picked something this big to be your hideout!? How is it that all of you are still alive!? That's the least smart thing to do!' Claudia is in an uproar. She has been trying not to freak out ever since they were cornered by the chimeras, now that she's safe, she feels like she just wants to let it all out.

Valerius shrugs with a smile, 'That's the beauty of it. It's so obvious that no one would ever look there. And we never stayed in one place for too long anyway, so it doesn't really matter.'

Valerius and Claudia enter the airplane where they find James and Oswald, already there waiting comfortably, except James. Oswald is leaning against the wall, his arms crossed and his eyes closed; James on the other hand is sitting awkwardly, sweating out from every pore of his body. He freezes on his chair, afraid of what Oswald might do to him since there were only two of them around. James doesn't even notice that Claudia and Valerius are already there.

'James.' Claudia calls out.

James turns to Claudia with relief. He dashes off his chair and straight to Claudia, hugging her again. 'Claudiaaa! I was so scared!'

Claudia sighs, she pats James' head. She decides to indulge James this time since she knows how it would feel like to be left alone with someone like Oswald.

The interior of the airplane is huge and wide. It's just like any other airplane but almost all of the chairs inside are gone. There are only some left by the windows, the chairs in the middle area have been taken out, replaced now by a couple of wooden tables with files and folders on them alongside three wanted posters. On top is Valerius, below is Oswald, and the bottom poster is covered by the two other posters.

Oswald opens his eyes as Valerius approaches him. 'He's taking longer than usual.' Oswald says.

Valerius smiles, 'It can't be helped, that one was really big. Well, bigger than usual.'

The sound of footsteps appears nearby. The moment Oswald and Valerius hear it, their senses sharpen. They aim at the door, ready to leap and attack anyone that is not friendly. James hides behind Claudia while she covers him, putting up a brave face even though her hands are trembling.

The mysterious blue hooded figure enters through the door. Oswald and Valerius drop their stance, James looks relaxed, but Claudia is still staring intently at the blue hooded figure. He enters the aircraft, carrying a dragon's head, the head of the dragon that was chasing after them earlier.

He throws the dragon's head to Oswald, 'I got you a present.' The mysterious person finally says a sentence.

Claudia knows who this person is; he's the last person that she has been looking for, the leader of this group. The strangest thing is she feels like she already knows him, not only from the briefing that Chiron gave like about Oswald and Valerius. She feels like she already knows this person as long as she has been in camp. People in camp have been telling stories about him, many of the senior camper spoke of him in high regards and personally, especially Chiron.

He takes off his hood, revealing a very handsome young man with jet black hair and a pair of bright green eyes. He smiles slightly to Claudia, yet Claudia feels safe and warm just from that small smile.

This is it, this is the one, Claudia thought to herself. This is Percy Jackson, the once called Savior of Olympus.

'Hey there.' Percy says with a friendly tone to Claudia. 'My name is Percy, and you are?'

* * *

**I do not own Percy Jackson or any of Rick Riordan's character!**


	2. Shadow, Wind, and Seas 2

Claudia feels nervous. Right in front of her is perhaps the greatest modern age hero of all time, Percy Jackson himself. After all, who can say that they've recovered the master bolt, defeated Atlas, and saved Olympus from Kronos? No, there will be no one in this world that can say that.

Percy is standing across the table from Claudia, his fists are on the table while he's trying to process the information that Claudia just gave him.

'I'm sorry, but the answer will be no.' Percy says after a long pause.

'What!?' James jumps in surprise, clearly not expecting that answer. 'What do you mean no!? We've been through a lot just to get to you and you're saying no!?' James is freaking out a bit, he feels tired and a little bit angry. How can he not? He just risked his life to get to Percy but now that he's here, alive and almost eaten by manticores, Percy is not agreeing to come back to the camp. 'Listen here! We did not come here to get—' Oswald comes to the scene and James shrinks instantly. He looks down, afraid to meet Oswald's eyes, 'I mean… Respectfully… We really need you to get back to camp with us, sir…' He almost whispers.

Oswald leans against the wall right behind Percy, his arms crossed and his eyes are closed.

Percy sighs, 'I'm sorry but my answer is final… I'm not returning back to camp.' Percy turns around and walks out of the airplane.

Claudia feels a little bit lost and frankly, she's panicking a little bit. When Chiron ordered her and James to bring Percy back to the camp, she didn't expect any resistance. She thought that Percy would gladly return straight back to camp remembering the history he has with the place. He's a hero, and not just any hero, he's the greatest hero the camp has ever known.

Claudia purses her lips; she refuses to let her journey to be a waste. She rushes out of the airplane, running straight after Percy.

The sun has already set and the moon is now up on the sky. The sky is clear of white clouds with hundreds of stars decorating the night sky. It's as if someone spread the stars to the sky the way a farmer spread seeds to a fertilized ground.

Claudia catches a glimpse of Percy, radiating under the moonlight, with his soft sad face looking up to the sky while his right hand is playing a locket that's around his neck. Claudia lets out a small moan, and feels her heart skipping a beat. Claudia knows that Percy is handsome, but for that one moment, she thinks that he's an immortal god, radiating in beauty.

'Beautiful isn't it..?' Percy asks.

Claudia freezes, her face lights up like the fourth of July. She thinks that Percy just read her mind.

'The night sky…' Percy looks to Claudia, 'A couple of years ago; a sight like this would be impossible to see in big cities.'

Claudia finally realizes what he's talking about. She exhales in relief, knowing that he doesn't know what she's thinking. Claudia tucks her hair behind her ear. She walks up to Percy, feeling a little bit nervous. 'Yeah… It is…'

Claudia can't fight her Aphrodite's gene. All she wants to do right now is rips off Percy's shirt and kisses him from his perfect lean muscular body to his beautiful looking lips.

Claudia shakes off that thought immediately, that's a zone that she knows she should never travel into.

'Can I ask you something?' Claudia asks firmly.

Percy stops playing with his locket, 'What do you want to know?'

'Why don't you want to come back to camp? I mean, you're a hero, the greatest one among countless out there. I just don't understand how someone like you would want a life of being alone like this.'

Percy smiles, it's his normal smile but it looks completely charming. 'I'm not alone. As you can see, I have two completely capable demigods with me.'

Claudia purses her lips, she looks a bit annoyed. 'That's not what I meant.'

'I like it the way we are right now, Claudia. I'm actually helping people, a lot of people.'

'Percy, with all due respect, you coming with us will help a lot more people. I mean if we can end this war, everything will return back to normal! For crying out loud, you're the savior of Olympus! We need you to come back with us!' Claudia crosses her arms. 'I mean, who are you really helping around here!? While you stay idle, people keep dying somewhere else because of the titans!'

Percy shook his head. 'I'm done being a pawn of the gods.' He says with a firm tone, his face tells Claudia that he's in a lot of mental pain. It baffles Claudia slightly.

Percy walks up to her, 'Everybody has a secret… Secrets that make people do the things that they do. The thing about secrets is that sometimes it's just better to be left as secrets.' Percy walks past her, back into the airplane. Before he enters, he looks back, 'You should stay the night here. Brooklyn is a dangerous and treacherous place at day, even worse at night.'

Claudia can't make any explanations out of it. What could possibly be preventing Percy to come back to camp. Everybody wants this war to ends, yet Percy refuses to help end this war.

Claudia sighs, she looks up to the sky. 'Mom… Little help here?' She pleads to Aphrodite. She found the savior of Olympus but she can't bring him back to the camp. What will the campers say to her? Kayla would be happy, Claudia thought to herself. She's Claudia's sister, and just like any influential daughter of Aphrodite, she's an absolutely horrible person to say the very least. Kayla makes Cinderella's step mother looks like a saint, and she's especially horrible to Claudia since Claudia's popularity (Is the word Kayla used) is side by side with Kayla's.

Claudia remembers Kayla Anaba. A girl around 5'7" tall, she's definitely taller than Claudia, and really pretty too with her tanned skin, American Indian, and her long black hair that puts hair models to shame. Claudia hates to admit but even though she's an absolute horrible person, she's still beautiful; she'll make a fine model with her slim figure and curvy legs.

She remembers this one time Kayla and her gang kidnapped Claudia in the middle of the night, drugged her with sleeping pills, and placed her in the boy's bathroom until the sun rises, or when she "accidentally" pushes Claudia into the lake even though there was nothing that could've tripped Kayla off. These little things slowly grew into bigger things. Claudia shudders at the thoughts of what Kayla has done to her, one time Kayla actually locked her in the stable and sealed the area, saying that it was under cleaning. Claudia was forced to live and eat with horses for three days because no one was around to hear her, thank the gods though that James was wandering around nearby or else she would have stayed longer.

You would think that in times of war, people like Kayla Anaba would disappear or at least grow up enough to stop bullying, but… The world in a way is still similar. Claudia grumbles that in her thoughts.

Claudia enters the airplane again. Percy is already gone from sight; gods know where he is right now. Oswald is leaning against one of the windows, sharpening his bronze dagger with a flat expression. James is just sitting at the corner of the airplane while carefully eyeballing Oswald, watching his every move just in case Oswald suddenly decides to decapitate his head. Who can blame James? Everybody knows exactly who the man called Oswald Hawke is.

Not much is known about the man, but Oswald Hawke is without a doubt the most dangerous demigod in the world. He is the only known son of Death. It is still unclear how Thanatos can even procreate a child, yet the nature of his child was not very different from Death himself. The sound of Oswald's name is perhaps just as worse as hearing the name of the titan lord, Kronos. Oswald Hawke used to be an assassin, that much is known for Claudia, he was more than an assassin though… He was a prodigy. He worked as a retrieval specialist, a thief, any dangerous job, and he has done it all flawlessly, plus he had no fear of getting his hands dirty. He started when he was only nine years old, and the very thought of a nine years old assassin was ridiculous, at least until his victims met Oswald. He never failed to assassinate his target. For four years, he spread terror in the criminal world, the mortal world, and the magical world. There's actually a horror story that tells the tale of Oswald Hawke. That Tartarus himself spat out Oswald from his stomach because he was too cruel and dark for Tartarus to handle. He disappeared one day after four years of being the perfect assassin. He resurfaced again two years after that, but he stopped taking dirty jobs and start taking jobs that are… Less dirty. His records improve but his reputation never rose. A couple of months later, he found himself to be a part of Percy's group.

Claudia examines Oswald. The boy would have passed as a girl. Put a wig, some make-up on him, and he'll look like a girl. The worst part for Claudia is, she can actually picture Oswald being a girl, and Oswald would be a prettier girl than Claudia. She takes that a bit personal. Though that still doesn't change the fact of how good looking Oswald is. Yet even though Claudia doesn't really like his glacier looks, there's just something about him that piques Claudia's interest.

Valerius puts his arms around Claudia's waist from the side, which startled Claudia a bit. She didn't notice Valerius' presence at all. 'Since you're staying with us for the night… How about sharing my bed..?'

Valerius lived a life that wasn't too different from Oswald, except that he wasn't a paid assassin. Valerius never worked as anything but a protector. He was a bodyguard, a really good one and a special one. Just like Oswald, he's the sole known son of a god, the wind god, Aeolus, to be exact. He's the only one that exists in the world. He started working when he was thirteen years old, and worked for three years before joining Percy's group. There are a lot of rumors saying that Valerius and Oswald go way back and that somehow Valerius had something to do with Oswald's disappearance since the time one ended and one started was really close to each other.

Claudia knows all of their stories, at least the stories on the files that Chiron gave her. Although, half of the stuff in the file were common knowledge. But the one thing that really impressed Claudia is Percy Jackson. Half is because of the great things that the senior campers told her about him, how Chiron spoke of him in such high regards, and of course all of his accomplishments. Really though, the one thing that impressed Claudia most is how Percy can bring together people like Oswald and Valerius to work under him.

Claudia is actually tempted a bit to say yes. She silently curses her Aphrodite's gene. Being a child of Aphrodite makes you that way; you just want to pin down someone really handsome and kiss him all day long. Unfortunately enough, Percy and Valerius are included in the group of really handsome people. Oswald is included in the group as well, but his cold gazes and his scary expression; they're not something that Claudia is a big fan of.

Claudia takes Valerius's arm off of her. 'Thanks… But I prefer to be alone…' She says.

Valerius shrugs with a smirk, 'Suit yourself, but if you change your mind, my bed is upstairs.' Valerius strides up the stairs.

'Talk about being confident.' James sneers a bit to Valerius.

'One of his negative qualities… But he's a good man.' Oswald says, still sharpening his dagger, his eyes are still on the dagger.

James stiffens again. Claudia can't help but let out a small smile, James looks like an adorable little puppy when he gets scared like that.

'Come on, James. Let's get some shut eyes, we're going to need it for tomorrow.' Claudia suggests, but it's more like an order. James nods, agreeing to it without a second thought. After a day of risking his life, James figures that he deserves some rest.

James and Claudia walk to through the drape, into another passenger's area. This one is still filled with seats. Claudia thought of sleeping upstairs in the first class area, with the comfortable chair-bed, but she prefers not to be in the same area with Valerius. That man is bad news; even Claudia knows that, no matter how charming he is. Even if that's not the case, James wouldn't be able to sleep knowing that Oswald is right there with them. James prefers to take his chance with the monsters out there rather than be in the same cabin with Oswald. The scary part is, when Claudia heard James said that, he actually looked serious.

Claudia takes an aisle seat on the side of the plane, James pick up the middle seat. The blanket and pillow are already there, in fact there are a lot of spares around. James takes a couple of blankets and curls up right next to Claudia. He rests his head on Claudia's shoulder; Claudia sighs and pats him in the head. He did a good job today… He didn't get himself killed and that counts for something. Despites Claudia's hard attitude toward James, she cares a lot about him. It's just during times of war like this, you can't afford being soft, and James is the epiphany of soft.

James falls asleep in mere seconds, he's exhausted. Claudia follows in mere minutes; her eyes can't stay open long as soon as she gets comfortable.

Claudia is dreaming that night. The whole camp is right there with her. Claudia recognizes the place that they're at, Washington, during the first invasion of the city. This happened not too long ago, the whole city was a battleground, and right now in her dream it still is. Chiron is yelling out, leading the centaurs in the vanguard with the children of Ares against numerous monsters. The titan Prometheus is the one leading the attack, though he's way behind his army.

She can see herself now, sneaking around with James behind her. They're spying up ahead, trying to figure out if there's a weak link on the monsters' defense. Their face is covered in dirt and a little bit of oil, crawling through a small diner. Claudia feels a little strange, knowing that she's standing there while watching a version of her past sneaking there. She knows exactly what's going to happen.

Four hellhounds come crashing through the windows, shattering the windows and creating a lot of noises. Both James and Claudia scream out in panic and fear, including the Claudia that knows this all isn't real, she screams out regardless.

Claudia jumps out in surprise. She makes no sound, and quickly scans the area, making sure that there's nothing dangerous around. Noises are bad; Claudia remembers that from the time back at camp. No matter what, never makes a lot of noises since usually it'll attract monsters.

Claudia gets off from her seat slowly, it's easy since James has already shifted his position, his head now is resting comfortably on the window seat. Still, she doesn't want to wake James up by getting up too abruptly. Claudia feels a little bit dizzy, she decides to take a little walk and she brings her blanket with her, wrapping her while she walks. She enters the main cabin, or so Claudia calls them since the tables and the files are here. She scans the posters on the table, one for each of them. Top one is Oswald's picture, under that one is Valerius', and the bottom one is Percy's.

Claudia proceeds out of the airplane. The night wind is a bit chilly, which makes her really glad that she brought her blanket with her. She looks up to the sky, Claudia is mesmerized by the shining brilliant dots that are decorating the sky. She smiles slightly, enjoying the sky and the breeze.

'Sleep doesn't come to you?' Oswald is sitting down, skinning the dragon head that he put on his laps, down to the last part. All that's left of the head now is the skull and just a little bit skin left. He has a lot of buckets nearby, with the dragon's skins in one bucket, blood in another, and so on.

Claudia flinches a bit in surprise, but it's not like the scene is unbearable to watch. At least the gory part is over, as Oswald finishes skinning the dragon's head. He puts the skull aside, takes out a handkerchief, and wipes his hands on it.

'Yeah…' Claudia maintains her distance from Oswald. 'Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt… Whatever you're doing.'

'Don't worry, you weren't.'

Claudia examines Oswald with somewhat a curious face. 'Can I ask you something?'

Oswald intertwines his hands. 'What do you want to know?' He leans forward.

'What's a guy like Oswald Hawke doing with a hero like Percy Jackson?'

He laughs wryly, 'You can just say it. What's a cold blooded murderer like me doing with the savior of Olympus.'

'That's not what I mea—'

Oswald puts his hand out. 'I didn't have a reason when I joined Percy's little organization… You might say that I just felt like doing it.' Oswald looks to Claudia, feeling intrigued by the girl in front of her. 'If you don't mind me asking, why do you two want to bring Percy back to camp?'

Claudia thinks a moment for a reason, not that she doesn't know the reason already, but she's thinking whether the obvious reason is not something that Oswald wants. In the end she decides to just tell her what she knows.

'He's the hero of Olympus. The one person that has actually beat Kronos. I mean, having him with us would boost the morale of the campers, not to mention that he's a very skilled fighter. You saw what he did, right? With him, we actually stand a chance in ending this war forever.'

Oswald looks amused by Claudia's explanation; he smiles mockingly, 'You need more than just Percy to end a war.' Oswald stands up, 'You need something more.'

'And what would that be?'

'The only thing that you really need; a hero.' He answers.

Claudia is really puzzled by his answer. Not that Oswald gives Claudia any more chances to ask further, he takes the buckets and walks past her.

'Get some sleep, Miss Claudia. Tomorrow is going to be a long day.' To Claudia's ears, what Oswald is saying sounds a lot more like a premonition rather than just an ordinary warning or something of the sort.

'Are you going to take us somewhere tomorrow or something?' Claudia's starting to feel that she's not going home right away tomorrow.

Oswald looks back slightly, 'We're going to take you back to camp, where else?'

'Then why do I have the feeling that you three aren't going to take us straight back to camp?' Claudia takes one hard step closer to him, her tone demands an answer.

'We are, don't worry. But before that, we want to take you somewhere first.'

'And where would that be?'

'To some of the good things that Percy has done to this world. We're going to take you to the Brooklyn's resistance.' Oswald walks back into the plane.

Claudia looks puzzled, 'Brooklyn doesn't have a resistance post!' Claudia pauses for a couple of seconds, 'It doesn't… Right?'


End file.
